Last weekend’s playoffs opener was a bag of mixed emotions for Tyrese Haliburton. While the Pacers blew out the Bucks to protect home court and take a lead in the series, the point guard had a rather underwhelming outing. He shot 3 of 13 from the field and finished with only 10 points. That raised massive concerns about his readiness for the big stage. A couple of days later, Haliburton was voted the “most overrated player” in the league by his peers.
As per a survey conducted by The Athletic, ninety anonymous NBA players participated in the poll to hand out the infamous tag. A whopping 14.4% voted for Haliburton. The only other player in double-digit percentage was four-time DPOY Rudy Gobert, with 10% votes. Other big names, including LeBron James, Jimmy Butler, and Giannis Antetokounmpo were also on the list but with far lesser votes.
As expected, Rick Carlisle was not pleased with his superstar getting publicly disrespected. After tonight’s Game 2 win, the head coach called out the 13 anonymous players who deemed Haliburton ‘most overrated’ in a fuming rant, “I heard about this. The other guys on the list were Jimmy Butler and Giannis. I wanna see the guys’ faces that voted those guys. I wanna see the faces of those guys.” Then, he even questioned the credibility of the survey, “This is a bulls— poll. Not everybody even answered in the poll. Guys were able to answer if they wanted to. They were asked on camera or with a microphone. The whole thing’s bulls—, okay. It’s really a shameful thing. Just a shameful thing.”
Rick Carlisle just went OFF on the anonymous player poll that had Tyrese Haliburton as the most overrated player in the league.
“I want to see the faces of those guys.” pic.twitter.com/0ATomGu9Za
— iPacers.com (@iPacersblog) April 23, 2025
Yes, the survey had 158 participants spread across every team in the league. But only ninety chose to answer the “most overrated” poll. Even then, 2.2% voted ‘no one who reached the NBA is overrated.’ Moreover, the players who were deemed overrated have had massive impact this season, which Carlisle highlighted, “Jimmy Butler would be a finalist for MVP if he had gotten to Golden State a month and a half earlier. I mean what that guy has done and Giannis, are you kidding me? I’m done. Thankyou.” Yes, Butler’s arrival singlehandedly turned the Warriors to title contended withing a span of two months. Similarly, Giannis is one of the frontrunners to win MVP, averaging 30.4 points and nearly twelve rebounds. Does that sound overrated? While Carlisle was all riled up about the survey, Haliburton seemed unbothered by the unwanted tag.
(Developing Story)
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